Migraid Online - English - Vifin Course Creator

During this final day, participants will get acquainted with a very important topic within Diversity Management, i.e. Conflict Resolution in the workplace. During Day 2, some of the negative outcomes of diversity such as stereotypes and discrimination were described together with the European and national legal frameworks that have been elaborated to rule the relationships between employers and employees.

However, there is also a series of “negative” outcomes that can be experienced on a daily basis in the workplace such as misunderstandings, disagreements, encountered interests, etc., that need to be understood and managed for a better daily experience of diversity. Thus, participants will learn some of the main approaches and skills/capacities that may be useful to solve diversity related conflicts at the workplace. Furthermore, participants will receive fundamental training to become trainers themselves about the contents that they have learnt during the week in their own organizations. To conclude this day, participant teams will present their respective proposals on diversity management.

Once you have completed Topic 1, you should know/be able to define/have knowledge of:

Identifying some of the main sources of conflict in the workplace and the best ordered strategies to deal with it;
Learning the main Conflict Resolution’s approaches and the conditions in which each of them is more recommendable;
Promoting the necessary knowledge (and practical experience) of the main values and necessary skills to deal with conflict resolution;

Please select one or more of the most common sources of conflict:

	Lack of communication or poor communication skills; to misunderstand a particular situation may create potentially explosive interactions
	Direct or indirect competition and feelings of exclusion from a particular activity or by some people within the company
	Spending time together and getting to know each other differences better
	Sharing common values and points of view regarding relevant things such as organizational modalities
	Personal differences regarding personality, age, education, gender, socioeconomic status, cultural background, temperament, health, religion, political beliefs, etc

Compromising		It means accommodating the concerns of others first of all, rather than one's own concerns. This kind of strategy may be applied when the issue of the conflict is much more important for the counterparts than for oneself. It may be also applied when someone accepts that he/she is wrong and furthermore there are no other possible options than continuing an unworthy competing-pushing situation.
Win-Win (Collaborating)		Parties find a mutually acceptable solution which partially satisfies both parties. This may be an optimal solution when the goals are moderately important and not worth the use of more assertive or more involving approaches. It may be useful when reaching temporary settlement on complex issues and as a first step when the involved parties do not know each other well or haven’t yet developed a high level of mutual trust.
Smoothing		It consists on not addressing the conflict, postpone it or simply avoiding it. This outcome is suitable when the issue is trivial and not worth the effort or when more important issues are pressing, and one or both the parties do not have time to deal with it.
Forcing		It involves an attempt to work with the other part involved in the conflict to find a solution that most satisfies the concerns of both parties. It may be the best solution when consensus and commitment of other parties is important; when the conflict occurs in a trustworthy environment and when it is required to address the interests of multiple stakeholders. But more specially, it is the most desirable outcome when a long-term relationship is important so that people can continue to collaborate together in a productive way.
Withdrawing		When one of the conflict’s parts firmly pursues his or her own concerns despite the resistance of the other(s). This may involve pushing one viewpoint at the expense of another or maintaining firm resistance to the counterpart’s actions; it is also commonly known as “competing”. It may be appropriate when all other, less forceful methods, don’t work or are ineffective; when someone needs to stand up for his/her own rights (or the represented group/organization’s rights), resist aggression and pressure.

Position 2		Establishing common ground where parties can find a basis for agreement
Position 4		Enhancing the desirability of the options and alternatives that each party presents to the other
Position 1		Reaching initial agreements of rules and procedures
Position 5		Improving the accuracy of communication, particularly improving each party’s understanding of others’ perceptions
Position 3		Controlling the number and size of issues in the discussion
Position 6		Reducing tension and synchronizing the de-escalation of

Mediation skills		Is the capacity to psychologically and emotionally connect with others, trying to understand their points of view, both positive and negative emotions, experiences and necessities.
Accountability		In order to positively solves a conflict, one needs to be trustworthy, responsible and pro-active in order to solve a confrontation, and even more importantly when having to act as a mediator in a particular conflict
Efficiently Interviewing		How to ask the “right” questions to the different parts involved in a particular conflict becomes fundamental when trying to solve it.
Empathy		The capacity of communicate between partners, especially in situations under stress when the flow of information can be compromised by the difficulty of the situation
Assertiveness		Is the capacity of being self-assured without being aggressive; it summarizes the ability to efficiently communicate one’s point of view without the need to yell or threaten others

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